September 30, 2003 --
Clyde Bolton will be appearing at the fall 2003 Friends of Houston Cole
Library author event, Tuesday October 7 at 7:30 p.m. on the 11th floor.
Bolton has been recognized most recently for his novels, Turn Left on
Green (a novel depicting NASCAR racing), and Nancy Swimmer: A Story of
the Cherokee Nation. He has a lifetime of achievement as a writer.

Bolton notes that he has been read more times than any other Alabama
writer in history. That includes all writers, not just those who wrote
for newspapers.
Bolton penned four columns a week for The Birmingham News for 31 years.
If each was read by 50,000 persons (a conservative estimate), that's
200,000 readings a week or 10 million readings a year--or 310 million
readings for the 31 years.
And that doesn't include the millions of readings of his feature
stories, game stories, news stories, magazine articles and books.

Bolton joined The Birmingham News sports staff on September 4, 1961,
and retired on September 7, 2001, at age 65. When he retired he was the
dean of Alabama sports writers. He previously worked for The Anniston
Star, The Gadsden Times and The Montgomery Advertiser in Alabama and The
LaGrange Daily News in Georgia.

In addition to his newspaper writings, Bolton is the author of six
novels and 10 non-fiction books. He wrote the first popular histories
of Alabama and Auburn football, The Crimson Tide and War Eagle. His
other non-fiction books--all of which have sports themes--are
Unforgettable Days in Southern Football, Bolton's Best Stories of Auto
Racing, They Wore Crimson, The Basketball Tide, Silver Britches, The
Alabama Gang, Talladega Superspeedway, and Remembering Davey.
His latest novel, Turn Left on Green, is about NASCAR racing, but the
other five have non-sports themes.

Water Oaks, Ivy and The Lost Sunshine are about life in a small Southern town in the 1950s; And Now I See is a biblical novel; Nancy Swimmer, A Story of the Cherokee Nation,
is about an Indian woman before, during and after the Trail of Tears.

Bolton has won numerous state and national awards for his newspaper
writing. In 1995 he became the first winner of the most prestigious
prize in auto racing writing, The American Motorsports Award of
Excellence, which is given for the best story on Winston Cup racing in
the nation. In 1966 he won the Permatex Award for the best story on
short track racing in the nation.
The All-American Football Foundation presented Bolton its Lifetime
Achievement in Sports Writing Award in 1996. In 2001 he was inducted
into the Alabama Sprts Writers Hall of Fame.

Bolton, who lived in Wellington as a boy, is a graduate of Alexandria
High School. He briefly attended Jacksonville State. He and his wife
Sandra live in Trussville. They are the parents of three grown sons.

Copies of Bolton's most recent novels will be available at the Houston
Cole Friends of the Library event on October 7th for purchase and
signing. Refreshments will be served.

Call the librarian's office for questions, 256-782-5255.

Open to All

Join us for author talk, refreshments, and book signing

Friends of the Houston Cole Library Membership Cards Available at the Event